2012 October Oak Cliff

GOING FOR THE BLUE (RIBBON) AT THE TEXASSTATE FAIR

All’s fA ir

Tradition is the gravity that pulls us to the State Fair

If you’ve ever attended the State Fair of Texas, even once in the event’s 126-year history, you know the talking points.

There’s the landmark spectre of Big Tex calling out “HOW-dee” to passersby while talking up fair activities and, in general, just being a super-huge mascot.

There’s the acreage-eating car show, which doesn’t feature every car and truck made for passengers, but it certainly feels like it walking through the two auto buildings.

There’s the livestock, which city folks treat as curiosities even as the people who know animals marvel at the specimens in their stalls and cages.

There’s the Midway, with row after row after row of fun-looking games that can be tough to win and scream-inducing rides that can be tough to stomach.

And there’s the fried food, which by reputation spreads Texas’ name farther and wider each fall as vendors scramble over each other to come up with new things to fry that are even more over-the-top than cactus, Coke, beer and cookies.

But when you talk with people about the fair, all of that stuff isn’t really what they remember, particularly if they’re longtime attendees who make the trek annually to the country’s most attended fair.

Sure, they talk about the fried food they ate or the stuff they heard Big Tex say, but that’s not what brings them back. Instead, they’re wandering the fairgrounds year after year because it’s a tradition, one maybe that was started by a grandparent or a parent, maybe begun in high school or college, or maybe kicked off themselves when

they were married or had kids of their own.

Most people don’t attend the State Fair of Texas because it’s the sexiest, coolest thing going. They show up at the fair because it’s a part of their lives, something they can’t miss any more than they can miss birthdays or anniversaries or first days of school.

Our story in this month’s magazines chronicles some of our neighborhood’s biggest fair-lovers, people who spend the fair’s entire off-season thinking of ways to cook or sew or build their way to glory in Creative Arts contests. But it’s the rare person who sits in a darkened room working on his or her fair plans alone; most of these people, as you’ll note from the story, make this a family affair, with daughters joining mothers and sons helping fathers, and

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grandparents throwing in their 2 cents, too.

It doesn’t really make any difference to these people if the weather is hot, if the grease has been around awhile, if the corny dog line is too long, or even if they win a coveted ribbon for their efforts.

They’re not coming to the fair for something to do; they’re coming to the fair because it’s what they do.

And I’ll be there, too.

contributors: SEAN CHAFFIN, GAYLA KOKEL, GEORGE MASON, BLAIR MONIE, ELLEN RAFF

photo editor: CAN TüRKYILMAz

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photographers: MARK DAVIS, DANNY FULGENCIO, LORI BANDI

intern: BETH DIDION

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people show up at the fair because it’s a part of their lives, something they can’t miss any more than they can miss birthdays or anniversaries or first days of school.

When editor Rachel Stone posted a rendering of developer and Kings Highway resident Rick Garza’s Davis Street Market at facebook.com/oakcliffadvocate, reactions were mixed:

“It looks like Uptown to me. Not at all like Oak Cliff. Very disappointing.”

—Robbie Dawson Christopher

“I really like how he’s placed consideration on public space, parking and a host of mixed commercial and rental.”

—Jonathan Braddick

Coffee roasted on-site

That’s one of the things I appreciate most about our area (“Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters to open café, showroom on Davis at Tyler,” Sept. 6). As rough as that place looks now, people around here tend to look at the possibilities/potential of that space. Elsewhere, that place would be demolished, no question. I look forward to seeing this place once it’s up and running!

—David Hand

The streetcar to nowhere?

If I am correct, it will be a beautiful little jaunt from Union Station to the intersection near Methodist hospital (“Oak Cliff street car due in 2014,” Sept. 11). I am sure Union Station is just teeming with folks who are anxious to hang out down near Methodist hospital. What a waste of money. —AG

You are being just a wee bit short sighted. People in the 1950s said, “There’s nothing but cow pastures north of Lovers Lane,” and designed the original Central Expressway accordingly, much to our dismay before (and after) it was rebuilt.

Rent problems

—RobertB

What’s with all these expensive 800-plus rent on these places (“Alta West Davis now leasing, opens in November,” Sept. 12)! First Zang Triangle and now this one? You can get a $500, one-bedroom duplex down the street.

—Emily

The rent is too high for this property. Zang Triangle is asking for $1,000-plus a month for a one-bedroom! Apartments Downtown are now cheaper than Oak Cliff. I lived at Grand Estates at Founders Park on Zang in 2004-2007 and paid $542 when I moved in and was up to $688 when I moved out. Way more reasonable than Zang Triangle and the new complex.

—Ally

I think these rents are really, really high, and the place looks to be horribly constructed (unlike the Zang Triangle property). Still, I haven’t seen a duplex for $500 in OC in the last four years or so that I’ve been looking — but perhaps not in the same places, or no one leaves those little gems. Rents for duplexes are around $650-$750.

—Adriane

October 13-14, 2012

Q&A: Mike Rhyner

radio host Mike Rhyner is a 1968 graduate of Kimball High School, born and raised in Oak cliff. He’s been on the air with KtcK since its debut in 1993, a fixture on the afternoon drive-time show the Hardline. He’s also a musician who plays in the tom Petty cover band Petty theft and a byrds cover band, the Nyrds.

What neighborhood did you grow up in Oak Cliff?

I lived in Southwest Oak Cliff, not too far from Duncanville. We lived in two places over there. One was near Polk Terrace and one was close to Kimball, between Lancaster and Kiest. It was about an idyllic a place to grow up as you can possibly imagine. It was all families. There wasn’t a whole lot that happened out there. It was like the Cleavers’ neighborhood, almost. It was really a great place to grow up, and that sounds kind of weird to some people nowadays. But back then it was something completely different.

Were you in a band back then, and if so, where did you play?

I started playing in bands in my early ’teens. You played anything you could get. Parties that your friends would have, a lot of churches would have dances on the weekends. There was a place out there called Candy’s Flare at the National Guard armory on Red Bird Lane that people used to play.

Where did you hang out?

Kids rode around back then. There wasn’t any place to hang out, really. I had some friends who went to South Oak Cliff, and they would hang out at the Glendale Shopping Center. Sometimes people would hang out at Polk and Camp Wisdom. Kiest Park was always a big place, but that’s a place people used to go to make out more than anything. And Hampton-Illinois, let’s not forget it.

I know you live Downtown now. Do you ever come over here to hang out now?

I sometimes go over to The Foundry or Bishop Arts. What I like to do more than anything is drive around the old neighborhood and see what’s shaking there.

Were you always a Rangers fan?

I was into baseball long before they got here, and when they got here, they became my team. I’ve been with them from the start.

What team did you follow before the Rangers?

Anybody who was playing the Yankees.

Can Türkyilmaz

I’m a Yankee hater from way back, and I still do.

I appreciate that, but why did you hate the Yankees?

They just had more of everything than anyone. And they won all the time, too. I guess I thought there should have been equanimity in the game. I didn’t really understand how things worked. I understand it now, though, and I understand the greatness that was before me, which I didn’t latch onto then.

Do you think the Rangers will make the series this year (asked the first week of September)?

Do I think the Rangers will make it to the World Series? I’m not looking that far ahead. Getting into the tournament is job one. In any sport, all you want to do, and I learned this from the great Bill Parcels, is get to the tournament and then you take your chances. Anytime you get into the tournament, it’s not a failed season.

Rangers fans will probably perceive it that way since we’ve been to the series twice now.

I fear that it will be perceived that way, with fans being the way they are, especially fans around here. I think they would be really let down if things don’t work out.

Do people always want to talk to you about sports? Are you OK with that?

I try to be as accommodating to people as I can be. If people are nice to me, I am nice to them. I don’t like being asked Cowboys questions when baseball season is on. All that just comes with the job, though, and I know that.

How long have you been on the radio in Dallas?

Since 1979, I’ve been into it and out of it and here and there. These days it’s pretty hard to stay in one place very long, and I’ve been really, really fortunate at the Ticket. We’re now coming up on 19 years. If I can get 20 years with the Ticket, especially the way the business is nowadays, if I can get 20 years in, whatever happens after that, I will be able to walk away from it and say, “You did something there.”

PROUD SPONSOR OF THE 2012 OLD OAK CLIFF FALL HOME TOUR

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A lot of the women in our office listen to the Ticket, and they were excited that I’m interviewing you. Do you think you have many female fans?

Not as many women as guys. We don’t have as many women as we would like. We love all, and we serve all. Or at least we try to. We’re delighted to have you on board.

Do you talk to your co-hosts before every show or do you just kind of wing it?

We meet an hour before show time, and its not real detailed. It’s more of a taking of everybody’s internal temperature to get what everyone’s thinking about. Then we determine what we’re going to talk about. But we just hit on the topics. The first time we really talk about it is what you hear on air. You’re hearing it for the first time, and so am I.

We find it entertaining when you Hardline guys get testy with each other. Is that real, or is it schtick?

We’re around each other an awful lot. We do this five days a week for all but three weeks out of the year. We’re around each other a lot, and it’s not impossible to make somebody a little bit crazy. Sometimes someone will catch onto something and keep going with it, and it can get under your skin. There’s not too much fake or staged going on in our show. Usually what you think you’re getting is what’s going on.

How long have you been playing music? Tell us about your band. I got out of music in 1982, and I thought I was done with it. I thought it was over for me and I’d never do it again, and I was OK with that. Then lo and behold, Petty Theft sprang up in 2003. Ten years of Petty Theft and 20 years of the Ticket are my immediate goals. If I can do something with those, I will feel like I did a little something with this stage of life. I also just started the Nyrds, a Byrds cover band. We’re trying to get that up and running, and it’s going well. We like it. It sounds nice, and I hope people will come hear it sometime.

—Rachel Stone

Everything’s bully

Sonia Gaona’s english bulldog Cooper struts his stuff in the bishop Arts District.

Out & About

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October 2012

Oct. 26-27

Blues, Bandits & BBQ

Friday is locals night with a cooking demonstration from chef Tim Byres of Smoke, a biergarten, live music and a “Bonnie and Clyde” screening at 9 p.m. Saturday, the barbeque competition kicks off with judging followed by tasting from 2-4 p.m. The rest of the night will feature lawn games, a market, pumpkin painting, a biergarten and more. If barbeque isn’t your thing, vegan grub will be available for purchase.

Go Oak Cliff, 715 W. Davis, gooakcliff.org, free entry, $20 for tasting wristband

OCT. 2

National Night Out

The Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association will work to raise awareness of crime and drug use at this familyfriendly event at 6 p.m. There will be food, drinks, games, and police and fire department representatives.

Stemmons Plaza Park, 1500 Jefferson, winnetkaheights.org, free

OCT. 4

Cruise night

The Classic Chassis Car Club and the Bishop Arts Merchants Association host cruise night at this month’s first Thursday. Collectible cars will be on display all around the district. It is free to display vehicles — Studebakers, MGs, sedans, roadsters, scooters, bikes, hot rods and muscle cars — between 4-10 p.m. Everyone who brings a classic vehicle receives a complimentary craft beer at Eno’s, from 6-7 p.m. bishopartsdistrict.com

OCT. 5

Tillman’s 20th anniversary

Bishop Arts institution Tillman’s Roadhouse celebrates 20 years this month. Stop by to toast a complimentary glass of champagne and have a piece of cake. The Stratoblasters, a group of “Oak Cliff boys,” says owner Sara Tillman, start playing live music at 8 p.m. The restaurant will be serving its regular menu, and reservations for dinner are recommended.

Tillman’s Roadhouse, 324 W. Seventh, 214.942.0988, tillmansroadhouse.com

OCT. 6

Pumpkin patch and fair

Pick out a pumpkin, eat a breakfast taco and have a fall family portrait made from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The event will also feature a petting zoo, carnival games, bounce houses and a variety of food and drinks. The Kessler School, 1215 Turner, 214.942.2220, thekesslerschool.com, free entry

Oct. 13-14

Home tour

The Old Oak Cliff Conservation League Fall Home Tour this year lets attendees glimpse into 12 homes and the Tyler Street United Methodist Church, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. See some homes that really stand out and how Oak Cliff architecture has changed throughout the years.

Old Oak Cliff Conservation League, ooccl.org, $15-$25, free for children under 12

ElliotMuñoz

OCT. 7

AIDS Arms LifeWalk 5k

The Oak Cliff nonprofit invites families, friends and pets are invited to raise funds for the AIDS and HIV positive North Texas community. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. and the walk starts at 1 p.m. Stick around afterward for food, drinks and entertainment.

Robert E. Lee Park, 3333 Turtle Creek, 214.521.5191, lifewalk.org, $40 ($50 with dog)

OCT. 12

DSO on the Go

This Dallas Symphony Orchestra performance will feature classical and light classics favorites with principal musician concerto soloists, starting at 7:30 p.m. Buy tickets online or at the door.

Cliff Temple Baptist Church, 125 Sunset, 214.692.0203, dallassymphony.com, $10-$25

OCT. 13

Elmwood street fair

The Elmwood revitalization team is hoping to bring more culture into what it calls the “heart of Oak Cliff.” A street block will be filled with music, vendors selling food and clothes, artists, landscaping and more from 1-6 p.m. Elmwood Neighborhood Association, 2100 block of Balboa, elmwoodna.org, free

THROUGHOUTOCTOBER Cyclesomatic

Celebrate all things bicycle during this month-long series of events. A group ride to the fair, a bike-in movie, a scavenger hunt and a Halloweenthemed cyclocross race are among this year’s offerings. Check the website for more events.

Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, bikefriendlyoc.org

The Friends of Exall Park

Grab Your Friends, Pull Out Your Costume & Scare Somebody!

How It Works:

Put A Costume On Donate $ 10 Per Person Bring A Bottle of Wine –Place On Table And Share

Admission:

$ 10 + 1 Bottle of Wine/ Person ($ 25 without the wine)

October 27 Exall Park

Corner of Live Oak & Adair St.

5-7pm

thebeautificationBenefitingofExallParkCostumeContest

Wine tasting Music Haunted Park Costumes Encouraged

The Art Metals program opens up employment opportunities within the art industry.

Fine arts may include metal sculpture among other techniques.

Cost: $249 for 48 HRS.

For more information call 214-860-5900.

Delicious

Southern food

Al Lewis brought his Louisiana know-how to the Catfish Connection, where he works as a partner of Oak Cliff born-and-bred owner Clarence Jackson, who also owns Lil Cajun restaurant. The Catfish Connection offers a mostly take-out menu that stays true to its namesake. What makes the cooking different are the spices, which they mix into the cornmeal before frying the fish. “What everyone loves is the spicy fish,” Lewis says. Customers can ask for non-spicy catfish if it’s too hot to handle. Created in 2008, the restaurant has developed a loyal following of customers, some of whom eat there every week. “Just like a baby, we’re watching the business grow,” Lewis says. Jackson and Lewis also provide catering with The Lab Food Truck, named after the food experiments that turn out tasty Cajun food.

—Lauri Valerio

CATFISH CONNECTION

2464 W. Kiest 214.337.7101

AMBIANCE: TAKE-OUT

PRICE RANGE: $4-$10

HOURS: 10A.M.-8P.M. TUESDAYSATURDAY, CLOSED SUNDAYAND MONDAY

DID YOU KNOW?

A $5 LUNCH SPECIAL GETS YOU SIX CATFISH STRIPS AND FRIES.

Left:Shrimp basket

Top: Catfish sandwich.

Photos by LoriBandi

1 Chicken Scratch

Even if the chicken weren’t on point (and it is), the turnip greens, mac and cheese and other sides are amazing. Plus, the restaurant makes their own popsicles, sodas and condiments.

2303 Pittman 214.749.1112 cs-tf.com

2 Hattie’s

This is upscale southern food: four-cheddar mac and cheese, shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, bacon-wrapped meatloaf. 418 Bishop 214.942.7400 hatties.com

3 Norma’s

Chicken-fried steak, chicken and dumplings, turnip greens and meringue pies. Norma’s has all the comfort foods, plus breakfast all the time.

1123 W. Davis 214.946.4711 normascafe.com

They pose as caring breeders when you buy puppies online, at trade days, or in parking lots. They don’t want you to know the truth. They’ll never invite you cages, producing litter after litter until they die of neglect or disease. You’ll never see behind the scenes. But we have, and if you knew what we know, you’d never support this cruel industry. Don’t buy it.

Hattie’s chicken and waffles.

Photo by Can Türkyilmaz

Fermenting questions

Castellar brut cava ($10) Spain

The wine business is in flux, with forces dragging it in all sorts of directions. Will prices go up, or will they continue at near decade lows? Will consolidation continue on the producer and retail side of the business, and what will happen to prices if they do? Will Texas wine continue to be better made and more easily available? And what’s with the tremendous increase in the popularity of sweet red wine?

The good news for consumers, despite this uncertainty, is that the wine most of us drink will still be well priced, and we’ll have more places than ever to buy it. What’s happening here, with the addition of Spec’s, Total Wine and the soon-to-arrive Trader Joe’s, is happening elsewhere in the United States. And, yes, sales of sweet red wine are approaching levels never seen before — ask anyone who tells you that their favorite wine is Cupcake’s Red Velvet or E&J Gallo’s Apothic.

This month, three wines that reflect what’s going on:

sold close to cost, thanks to increased competition in Dallas and a recession in Spain that has cut demand there. Cheap cava doesn’t get much better than Casteller (around $10), which makes brut and rosé. Both have lots of tight, firm bubbles and long mineral finishes.

and the Texas Legislature, seems to think that local wine is a good idea. Texas growers and producers, who may have had the best harvest ever in 2012, are demonstrating their skill with wines like Llano Estacado’s Viviano (about $26), a red blend that includes sangiovese and has gotten better with each vintage.

Bogle, perhaps the best cheap wine producer in the United States, continues to hold the line on price. Ryan Bogle, whose family still owns the winery, told me earlier this year that they want to make sure their customers get their $10 worth. Check out the sauvignon blanc (about $9), with its citrus and tropical fruit flavors, and you’ll see what he means.

—Jeff Siegel

JEFF SIEGEL’S WEEKLY WINE REVIEWS appear every Wednesday on oakcliff.advocatemag.com

with your wine

Everyday lentil soup

Lentils, unlike most other dried beans, don’t require pre-soaking or hours to cook. You can get the entire thing done in less than hour, which includes chopping the vegetables. If you want a heartier soup, consider adding sliced smoked sausage or browned Italian sausage. Red wine would pair best, but any wine you like should work.

GROCERY LIST

6 c chicken or vegetable stock

1 c lentils

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

DIRECTIONS

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 bay leaf

2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown the vegetables in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil until the onion is soft. Add the garlic, bay leaf and cumin and mix well.

2. Add the stock, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until the lentils are done, 30 to 45 minutes. Check for salt just before the lentils are cooked. And, if the soup is too thick, add more stock.

Makes 6 cups, takes about 1 hour

Ask the wine guy

Q. Do wine glasses make a difference?

A. Surprisin gl y, t h ey d o. Th is d oesn’t m ean t h at y ou nee d to s p en d $100 on a wine g lass, but the better quality the glass, the more you’ll taste of the wine ( including any flaws). One rule o f thumb: Spend $1 on a glass for each $1 y ou s p end on wine, so that i f y ou drink $10 wine, use glasses that cost $10

Jeff Siegel

ASK THE WINE GUY taste@advocatemag.com

Well-removed from Big Tex and the Midway, past the Cotton Bowl, sits the Creative Arts Building at Fair Park. While it’s not the State Fair of Texas’ sexiest attraction, the sweeping structure is a hub for a relatively unknown subculture: the competitors.

Competitions at the State Fair are aplenty. Among the arts and crafts contests: painting, sketching, needlepoint and Lego architecture. Food-contest categories feature baking with KARO syrup, chili, chocolate, relish, jam, SPAM creations, bread baking and cooking with cheese, to name a few. Collections contest categories run the gamut from apothecary items and thimbles to sports memorabilia and pipes. There are fashion-design contests and diorama competitions. The list goes on and on. We tracked down several neighborhood residents who, through experience, understand the spirit of State Fair rivalry.

Story by Rachel Stone | Photos by Danny Fulgencio

the fair family

For the Burton family of Oak Cliff, the Fair’s Creative Arts competition is a family thing.

Mary Jane Burton enters quilts. Her husband, Alex, was a wood turner and used to enter handmade wooden bowls. Their adult daughter, Mila Burton, who also lives in Oak Cliff, enters needlework.

Mila first entered two years ago after giving her mom a 5-by5-inch cross-stitched butterfly. Mary Jane liked it so much that she entered it in the fair along with her quilts. The butterfly won fourth-place. All three Burtons won ribbons that year.

Mary Jane’s interest in Fair competitions started with quilting. It’s a hobby she always wanted to take up, and she started learning about 10 years ago, when she finally had time.

“It’s a journey,” she says. “The more you do, the more you realize you need to learn more because there are so many different ways of quilting, so many styles.”

This year, she’s entering a 72-by-79-inch quilt in a pattern called French braid. She thinks it’s quite good, if she does say so herself.

“You never know who you’re coming up against, though,” she says.

Mary Jane also is entering a doll-bed quilt in a difficult pattern called grandmother’s English garden.

She won a blue ribbon for the baby quilt she entered last year, and she also has won red and white, second and third, respectively, for other projects.

Mila’s entry this year is a 3-foot-by-1.5-foot needlepoint of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It was another gift to Mary Jane, who collects Madonnas.

For many years, Alex Burton, who died in September at 80, had an office in Exposition Park, and he was a judge several times in the chili cook-off. So they are Fair regulars.

One of Mila’s best State Fair memories took place not at the actual Fair but at the Bar of Soap, the bygone punk-rock dive bar/ washateria in Expo Park.

“I had gone to the Fair with some friends, and it was raining,” she says. “So we went to Bar of Soap and dried our clothes, listened to music and drank beer. It was great. I miss that place.”

the fair fanatic

“I’m the biggest State Fair nerd ever,” says Jessica Buquoi of Winnetka Heights. “You would think I’m like an old lady because I get so into it.”

She’s 34.

Buquoi started entering the pie bakeoff at the Fair when she was 25, and she says she’s usually the youngest competitor.

The hair stylist enters food competitions as well as collections. And her three-time, blue-ribbon-winning collection items are unusual. They’re Victorian-era hair receivers. Highly decorated and made of porcelain, they look like tissue boxes. Victorian women used them to store hair collected from their brushes, and they would use the old hair to make rats to get that Snooki-like height in their hairdos.

“It sounds gross, but there’s not hair in them now,” she says. “I have them displayed in my living room.”

This year, she’s also entering the maximum of two items in State Fair of Texas souvenir collections, a necklace from 1972 and a bottle, both featuring the likeness of Big Tex.

Buquoi also has entered the chili cook-off for about the past six years. That’s fun, she says, because it’s held on the eve of the Fair’s opening, and it adds to the excitement for her. Plus, the chili cook-off people, while dead serious about competition, create a sense of community.

Buquoi grew up in East Texas, and her parents took her to

theFair when she was a kid, but they weren’t fanatical about it. Starting when she was around 13 years old, though, Buquoi found a way to get to the Fair’s opening day every year.

Now she buys a season pass annually and goes just about every day. She spends hours, literally days when you add it all up, in the Creative Arts Building.

“There’s a food contest every day, so even if I’m not in it, I like to go and support it,” she says.

Some competitions she does enter, of course.

Aside from the chili cook-off and the pie bake-off, Buquoi last year entered Central Market’s “Guess What’s Cookin’?” competition, where contestants are given a box of 16 ingredients and an hour to concoct something tasty using at least eight of them, all in front of a live audience.

Last year, the box included blueberries, almond butter, sweet potatoes, beets, apples and popcorn.

“I was definitely the youngest person,” she says.

She made a “caramel-apple-popcorn thing,” and she was the only contestant who used the popcorn, but she didn’t win.

The experience was so challenging and nerve-wracking that she swore she would never do it again.

“It was crazy,” she says. “I can’t believe I signed up again.”

Watch Buquoi compete in Central Market’s “Guess What’s Cookin’?” on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 9:30 a.m.

‘No one ever comes in here’

This 36-year-old bookstore is in its twilight years

Story by Rachel Stone | Photos by Danny Fulgencio

An automatic “bong!” sounds as the door opens to International Books, and it brings Robert N. Jones to his feet, “Can I help you with something?” he asks, making his way from the back room, his office. He’s eager to have a customer. “No one ever comes in here,” he says.

Jones, 90, opened International Books in 1976. It is the oldest bookstore in Oak Cliff, and Jones says he plans to close it soon.

The sign out front reads “Libros en Español,” but Imported Books is not just a Spanish bookstore. Jones says the bestsellers nowadays are materials to help Spanishspeakers learn English, but there are books in 80 languages — German, Russian, Chinese, Basque.

“No one wants to learn Basque,” Jones says. “It’s too difficult.”

Jones especially loves illustrated diction-

aries. He pulls one from a top shelf and flips through page after page of drawings and diagrams for learners of Spanish. On a bottom shelf is Harrap’s Tintin Illustrated Dictionary. Originally marked $69, it is now half price, along with everything else in the store.

Imported Books had its biggest year in 1994, when it grossed $124,000 in sales, according to a hand-drawn chart Jones offers. Every year between 1981 and 2000, the shop did more than $50,000 in sales. The numbers drop steadily from ’94 to 2002, the last year on the chart, when the shop sold about $24,000.

He says he stopped buying books about eight years ago, and he does plan to close the store, eventually.

“It’s going to take a year or two to sell

these down,” he says. “It all depends on my health.”

Jones grew up in North Dallas and served in France and Germany as a soldier in the U.S. Army Infantry during World War II. He worked as a petroleum engineer and for his family’s carburetor business in West Dallas.

He and his wife, Mary Alice, settled in Oak Cliff around 1953. They had five children. Jones is fluent in Spanish, and his wife was a Mexican national, and they parleyed their translation business into a bookstore.

Jones lives in the back of the shop, and sometimes, he puts out yard sale signs in hopes of drawing in some customers. Along with books, he sets out clothes, dishes, boxes of junk.

“People won’t stop just for books,” he says.

A strong foundation

One stunning home from the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League tour

The Castañeda home on Canterbury Court in Kessler Park looks almost like a tree house from the street.

Built on a 35-foot hillside, most of the home is hidden from view by lush greenery. But enter through the front

gate, and the stunning home comes into view. A bridge over a dry creek leads to the modern home and the spectacular gardens surrounding it.

The home is one of 12 on the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League Fall Home Tour, Oct. 13-14.

Story by rachel Stone | Photos by Jeanine Michna bales

Previous owners built the bridge that leads from the gate of the Castañeda house to the entrance. The Castañedas, empty nesters who moved to Oak Cliff after their kids went to college, have redesigned much of the landscaping. A night view shows the dramatic view from the home’s front gate on Canterbury Court. The couple loved the house in part because of its hidden entry.

When Chrysta and John Castañeda bought the home in 2005, it had already been renovated from the foundation up. That is, previous owners had torn down the 1930s house and built a new one on the old foundation.

The Castañedas moved the master suite to the second floor. “We wanted to be able to look out over the garden,” Chrysta says.

They also added walk-in closets and a bathroom with teak cabinetry. They opened the two-car garage to create a bay for motorcycles and bicycles.

The Castañedas also took on an extensive exterior renovation, including reinforcing the original 1930s retaining walls and adding a patio and porch with a landscape design to match the owners’ modern esthetic.

The Castañedas lived in Lake Highlands for many years and raised their children there. When they became empty nesters, they high-tailed it to Oak Cliff.

“We have admired Kessler Park and Oak Cliff for decades,” Castañeda says.

The Old Oak Cliff COnservaTiOn league fall hOme TOur is Oct. 13-14 and includes homes all over North Oak Cliff. Tickets are available at Tom Thumb and cost $20. Proceeds from the tour go toward neighborhood grants for beautification, security and other enhancements.

The Castañedas have a modern style and prefer muted tones accented with pops of color and work from local artists. They added teak paneling and cabinetry during extensive renovations after buying their home in 2005.

BUSINESS BUZZ

The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

Send

Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters opening Tyler-Davis shop

The neighborhood coffee supplier is opening a roasting and retail location at Davis and Tyler. Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters began delivering freshly roasted coffee to customers’ doors in 2008 and now supplies coffee to businesses throughout the Dallas area. “Being a wholesaler, we don’t have a venue to interact with customers,” says owner Shannon Neffendorf. “This will give us a chance to be a more visible part of the community and be able to connect with customers.” Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters is renovating old auto body garages and hoping to open around the beginning of next year.

Griggs proposes $6 million Trinity River trail

If voters approve a city bond package on Nov. 6, there could be a trail on the Oak Cliff side of the Trinity River by 2014. City Council members Scott Griggs of Oak Cliff and Angela Hunt of East Dallas are proposing a $6.4 million pathway in the Trinity River basin, which would serve as a hike-and-bike trail. The road would be paid for through a $600-million bond package the city is proposing.

Design studio teaches children to recycle

Oak Cliff–based design-build firm DB Green LLC has launched The Magic Garden Program, which teaches children important lessons in recycling and staying green. Three books, six animations and thousands of square feet of murals portray a young girl’s adventures in recycling and creating new friends out of recycled products. Several more projects are in development stages. A book is expected to release by spring of next year. Paul Warmus, DB Green LLC owner, also hopes to turn these stories into an educational cartoon series one day. “It’s not just about recycling, but about creativity, imagination and art,” Warmus says, “to empower your child to look at the world around them and create.”

OAKCLIFF.ADVOCATEMAG.COM/BIZ

More business bits

1 Tillman’s Roadhouse turns 20 on Oct. 5. Find anniversary event details on page 10.

2 LaGrange now has a snow cone truck stationed at the residential Dallas West Trailer Park 3 Metro Paws Animal Hospital opened a new location near the Belmont Hotel. Its original location is on Skillman in the Lakewood area.

4 Cigar Arts, which specializes in “micro-blended artisanal cigars,” opened in Bishop Arts. The shop, founded by Russ Hargraves and Marco Cavazos, is an upstart inside business incubator Boomers on Bishop 5 The Cozy Cottage is celebrating four years in business.

Courtsey of DBGreenLLC

For the Girl Scouts’ Centennial Exhibition at the 2012 State Fair of Texas in the historic Hall of State!

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You need an Olla!- Clay pot irrigation. Save Water, Save Time, Save Money. Shop local. See it at one of our stores. Lake Highlands: 10345 Church Rd. 214.343.4900 & New Location/Oak Cliff: 700 W. Davis (Bishop Arts Dist.) 214.942.0794 brumleygardens.com

community

The Kessler Theater will host the inaugural Oak Cliff Music Festival from noon-8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3. Acts announced so far are Carolyn Wonderland, Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely Band. General admission tickets cost $12 in advance or $20 the day of the show. VIP tickets cost $25 in advance and $35 on the day of the show. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association.

The Dallas Zoo is looking for help for its Halloween Nights events Oct. 25-28. Volunteers will walk around in professional costumes and hand out candy. Contact the Volunteer Services Department to participate.

people

son. He has written about historic preservation and urban planning for the Advocate, including a piece about the old Humble Service Station on Zang, which is set to be demolished to make way for a beer-and-wine store.

Oak Cliff’s own Jason Roberts was honored as a Champion of Change at the White House for his work on the Better Block. Roberts and business partner Andrew Howard are exhibiting at the Venice Bienniale of Architecture, which runs through November and is sort of like the Olympics or World’s Fair of design.

education

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WACKYM’S KITCHEN

Wackym’s Kitchen bakes delicious cookies and treats from original recipes using fresh, natural ingredients like real butter and cane sugar. Visit our website to order or find a retail location. wackymskitchen.com

Michael Amonett, Old Oak Cliff Conservation League past president and Advocate contributor, has been appointed to the Dallas Landmark Commission. City Councilman Scott Griggs appointed Amonett to the commission in August. As president of the conservation league, Amonett developed our neighborhood’s “architecture at risk” list. He also helped in the fight to preserve the old Adamson High School and the ultimately failed effort to prevent demolition of the Oak Cliff Christian Church to make way for tennis courts serving the new Adam-

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Paul Benson, an English professor at Mountain View College, has won the Association of Community College Trustees 2012 Western Regional Faculty Award. He is also a nominee for the William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award. Dallas County schools are now using cameras to identify cars that do not stop at school bus stop arms. Those identified can be fined $300.

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Painting pride

Friends of Greiner, the newly formed advisory board at W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy, worked with the City of Dallas Graffiti Outreach Program to create a new mural for the school. The mural is above the entry to the school’s Stevie Ray Vaughan auditorium and depicts the blues musician, who was a student at Greiner and grew up nearby. “We believe that using graffiti for the mural will appeal to the creative mindset of the middle school students and evoke a sense of pride and belonging in the school,” says Friends of Greiner co-founder Rebecca Ordinario.

Sit a spell

The Möbius bench, functional public art installed on Forth Worth Avenue at Pittman, was created from repurposed materials by artists Nicole Horn and Erik Glissman . The two won $6,000 from Spare pARTS, a design contest from the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, and spent about 180 hours constructing the bench.

One cool school

Dallas ISD’s $48 million new high school is open. Adamson High School was the oldest school in DISD, roughly 97, when it closed this past spring. The new Adamson comprises 223,496 square feet. The three-story building serves about 1,300 students.

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They kicked in T he door and ran.

Michael O’Mara had been thinking about making some changes to his home’s entrance. He never planned to do it this way, however.

While he was away from his home on Aug. 14, witnesses saw two men kick in his front door, splintering wood that littered the interior of his home and causing the

The Victim: Michael O’Mara

The Crime: Criminal mischief

Date: Tuesday, Aug. 14

Time: 10:09 a.m.

Location: 1300 block of Barlow

home’s alarm and siren to go crazy. Security cameras also captured the two men as they briefly entered the home and then fled. Police were there within four minutes, O’Mara says, which was comforting, yet the crime was still frustrating.

“I got robbed last year. I think these were the same guys,” he says. “Last time they cleaned me out. This time they didn’t get anything.”

From the video, O’Mara estimates that

the crooks were in his home only seven seconds, and credits his security system for causing them to flee and saving the day. Despite the nuisance of having to replace the front door, O’Mara tries to stay positive about the splintery situation.

“I was thinking of replacing the door anyway — they just beat me to it.”

Lt. Barbara L. Hobbs of the Southwest Patrol Division says alarms can be an effective tool to help deter criminals from a residence or business, as in this case. Audible alarms draw attention to a location and help to increase the possibility of witnesses to an offense or additional people calling 911 to report the incident.

“Surveillance video from good quality cameras can also assist law enforcement with identification of suspects or suspect vehicles. It can also be a valuable tool during the prosecution of suspects that are identified and apprehended,” she says. “The criminal element prefers to remain anonymous while committing crimes. Alarms and quality video surveillance removes that anonymity and may decrease the possibility of crimes occurring.”

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|

crime numbers |

6:25 09.06 $2,000

Value of the Smart Start Breathalyzer stolen from a 2012 Kia on the 3000 block of South Tyler Aug. 16; two pairs of shoes valued at $60 also were stolen

Date when a man called the West Jefferson CVS and told the pharmacist if his “buddy’s” medication wasn’t ready soon, he was going to rob the pharmacy; the man later called back and apologized

p.m., Time of day on Sept. 8 when a woman returned to her Toyota in a parking lot on the 600 block of Illinois to find out that suspects tried to saw off her muffler with an electric saw, but jumped in their vehicle and sped off when witnesses confronted them

Source: Dallas Police Department

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer and author of “Raising the Stakes”, obtainable at raisingthestakesbook.com. If you have been a recent crime victim, email crime@advocatemag.com.

Gold Mined in the Cliff

Our neighborhood’s contributions to Olympic glory

Although the euphoria of the 2012 Summer Olympics has subsided and celebrations mostly ceased, there are more Olympic stories to be told — Oak Cliff Olympic stories. But for that, we need to go back a few decades.

Named by the Associated Press in 1950 as the most important woman athlete of the century, 1 Babe Didrikson developed many of her athletic skills right here in Dallas, in Oak Cliff, preparing for the Olympics. And she practiced at Lake Cliff Park.

Yes siree, Bob! At Lake Cliff.

With an audience of Cliffites, who came out early to secure prime observation spots, the spectators waited for Didrikson to arrive each day. According to her coach, “Colonel” Melvin J. McCombs, she would jog north from her residence on Haines Street and then turn down Colorado Boulevard toward the park, then back home and then back to the park — frequently re-running the route until after dark. She’d practice her javelin, shot put and other events while the delighted crowd encouraged her with applause and verbal awes, sounds that Didrikson relished.

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson hailed from Beaumont, where the high-schooler’s athletic prowess clearly stood out from the pack.

with the company’s team at the 1932 AAU Track & Field competition, she single-handedly won the team championship. The competition’s individual events also served as the U.S. Olympic trials, and of the 10 events offered, Didrikson participated in eight and won six (the shot put and long jump, and set the world record in the baseball throw, 80-meter hurdles, high jump and javelin)! Her 30-point total was eight more points than the entire 22-woman University of Illinois team.

In the ’32 Los Angeles Olympics, women were allowed to enter only three events. Didrikson won gold in two: the javelin and the 80-meter hurdles. She tied for gold in high jump, but was awarded silver when her jumping style was ruled as illegal for the time.

McCombs, the highly successful coach of the of Employers Casualty Insurance Company’s female sports teams — the Golden Cyclones — convinced the young athlete to move to Dallas and play basketball for him.

McCombs soon realized, however, that Didrikson’s talents and personality were better suited to individual sports, so he began coaching her in track and field. Competing

Soon, Didrickson’s interest turned to golf. She rose through the ranks at a remarkable pace and by 1936 was considered the best female golfer in the country. She won 13 consecutive tournaments, and strangely enough her winning streak was ended by an Oak Cliff native, former Sunset Bison golfer Bettye Mims Danoff. Didrickson took the defeat gracefully, although she was reported to be ill during play and running a temperature. During her professional (LPGA) career, she took 31 tournaments including three U.S. Opens, before her early death in 1956.

Didrikson wasn’t an official Oak Cliff native, but it seems reasonable for us to claim her. Certainly her days on Haines Street and at Lake Cliff Park helped place her on the Olympic path.

Oak Cliff’s 2 Eddie Southern began running races at W. E. Greiner Junior High School before entering Sunset, where he set state and national high school records ablaze. The 1955 graduate competed as a member of the ’56 USA Olympic Track Team that traveled to Melborne, Austrailia, and stood on the podium as the 440-meter hurdles Olympic silver medalist. Along with his USA teammate Glenn Davis, Southern broke the world record in the pre-lims, and then both men broke it again in the finals. Southern was leading the pack until the last hurdle, when Davis passed him by and grabbed the gold. Southern went on to lead the University of Texas Track Team to Southwest Conference championships in ’57, ’58 and ’59, setting more individual records in multiple events.

After an unfortunate stumble in the last few meters of the 1960 Olympic games, Southern’s opportunity to return to the winner’s circle ended. But in 1969 he was

With an audience of Cliffites, who came out early to secure prime observation spots at lake Cliff Park, the spectators waited for Babe Didrikson to arrive each day.

Images courtesy of April 10, 1932 Dallas Morning News Historical Archives.

make your comments on this column

inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame with accolades from, among others, Clyde Littlefield, legendary UT track coach.

Another Olympian, 3 Rafer Johnson, attended Oak Cliff’s Harlee Elementary School for six years, before his family moved to California. Always an outstanding academic and athletic student, Johnson was also a natural leader. Injured while participating in the 1956 Olympics, he took the silver medal in decathlon before winning the gold at the 1960 games, with a record-breaking score of 8,392 points. The decath winner, who, according to tradition, is regarded as the best all-around athlete in the world, was also the captain of the American team and carried the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies — the first African-American to have this honor. At the 1980 Los Angeles Olympics, Johnson had the distinctive honor of lighting the Olympic flame.

For decades, Cliffites have had reason to shout “USA!” Sports legends like Didrickson, Johnson and Southern are among those who have given us reason. So go, USA! Go, Oak Cliff!

Gayla Brooks can date her neighborhood heritage back to 1918, when her father was born in what was then called Eagle Ford. She was born at Methodist Hospital and graduated from Kimball High School. Brooks is one of three co-authors of the recently published book, “Images of America: Oak Cliff”, and writes a monthly history column for the Oak Cliff Advocate Send her feedback and ideas to gbrooks@advocatemag.com.

OAKCLIFF.ADVOCATEMAG.COM/BACKSTORY

Photo courtesy of UCLA Athletics.